Did you all happen to know that I LOVE Soi? She's so awesome. But I can never do her justice, it seems. Anyway, in this chapter, there was a lot more of Nakago than in the previous ones… that might make some people happy.

I was still excited about the elephant and all the acrobats I saw, and couldn't wipe a little smile off my face as I continued to follow Nakago to some other unknown place.

"You still must be such a child," he broke our silence, "to still be so happy a trip to the circus."

"Enjoying it doesn't make me a child," I protested, my smile fleeting.

"It's still childish," he closed his eyes with a dominant air.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," I furrowed my eyebrows at him. "Weren't you able to enjoy things like that when you were young?"

He stopped, and didn't say anything for a moment.

"Nakago?" I asked.

"A child should watch what questions they're asking," he slid his thick blue eyes back at me. "Besides, Soi should be around here."

As I remembered, Soi was woman who tried to sink our boat right after we left Konan. As that thought crossed my thoughts, I noticed that we were back in Konan, standing on cliff which overlooked he capital. In fact, this was the place were I stargazed with Tasuki one time.

"This is where Tasuki killed Soi," he said, and I got an eerie chill, since he had just been on my mind. "You seem surprised," he commented.

"Not as surprised as I am," a smooth, feminine voice said. A woman stepped into view, but with her hair down, I couldn't recognize her as Soi right away. "You were coming to find me, weren't you, Nakago?" she purred seductively. I blushed and instinctively looked away, and she chuckled. "Is this a friend of yours?"

"You don't recognize him, Soi?" Nakago put a hand on my shoulder to turn me back around to face her.

She looked at me very carefully, before a look of surprise hit her face. "Isn't this boy one of the Suzaku?"

"I'm surprised it took you so long to notice," he scolded her, and she cowered her shoulders up. "Your senses seem to be dulled since you've died."

"I'm sorry, Nakago," her confident eyes fell.

"Take this boy into your care for a short while. I'll be back later," he said authoritatively. When he spoke, you listened, and I didn't bother saying anything for how closely I was listening.

"Into my care?" she looked even more surprised at me. "But he's so young…"

"Would that make any difference?" his eyes seemed to scowl at her. "And I didn't mean that. He's just a poor dead soul like ourselves, and I'm seeing to it that he meets each of his former enemies in a different way."

Her surprised look faded, and she smiled and nodded. With that, Nakago made his exit once again.

Once I was sure he was gone, I turned back to Soi. "He doesn't seem to treat you very well."

"I always knew he had a gentle side," she blushed, oblivious to what I was saying. "So, child, which one are you?"

"I'm Chiriko."

"I see. And Nakago said you were meeting all us? Am I the first?" she smiled. Her company seemed much more enjoyable than the other two started as.

"No, I've aleady met Suboshi and Tomo, today. As well as Amiboshi, but I don't know if that counts," I corrected her, and her content face turned to one of disgust.

"Oh. Him," she rolled her eyes. "You poor child. How is the old wind bag?"

"Tomo?" I assumed, since he was the oldest that I mentioned. "He seemed very happy when I met him. Bu besides that, he's just… dead."

She nodded. "Isn't that familiar? Oh well, a timely death is something we all can stand to be thankful for in one way or another."

"Be thankful for our deaths?" I raised me voice. "You say that as you're visiting your own death site, like a lonely ghost!"

"It can be a place for good or bad memories, Chichiri," she put a finger to my mouth.

"Chiriko."

"Chiriko, yes. Sorry, I always did get a lot of them mixed up," she removed her finger. "Whatever your name, you still seem confused a little this."

I nodded. She seemed a little too welcome about her death.

"I'll put it this way," she tilted her head down thoughtfully. "Death is something we all face at some point. But when the time comes, would you want to die a slow, lonely, useless death in old, feeble age?"

"I might have preferred that," I scrunched up my face.

"Over what?" she looked straight at me. "An honorable death, surrounded by those you love?"

"Well," I looked down at my feet shyly.

"I couldn't have asked for a more perfect death," she looked fondly at the very edge of the cliff. "Nakago would have been killed had I not taken that blade for him."

I felt a little cynical, but wouldn't tell her that I would have preferred Nakago die there instead so a couple of my comrades could have lived. That many of us succumbed to much more intense forces than a single sword. But of course, I kept my mouth shut.

"The best part," she smiled very contently, "was that at that moment, he trembled, just for me."

This sounded even stranger to me until I tried to imagine Nakago trembling, and couldn't. It must have been even more of a powerful sight for her, if he always treated her the way he was earlier. Yet she seemed so happy to sacrifice herself for someone like him.

"Why him?" I asked. "Why would you give so much for someone like Nakago?"

"I wouldn't give myself up for someone like Nakago," she corrected me with a more stern look. "It was Nakago, the man who saved my life and my spirit when I was a little older… no, how old are you? Perhaps the same age. Since then, he was my only reason to carry on."

"Your only reason?" my eyes widened. "But you're a warrior of Seiryuu! You didn't feel any loyalty to your Priestess?"

"An obligation, yes. But I hardly ever saw my own priestess, and Nakago took complete responsibility for her safety, so the next step was to protect him. I was very content with that position," she smiled deeply, "as well as certain other ones."

I wasn't sure what she meant by that, but let her continue.

"But it's not like that meant anything from him," Soi sighed. "The most sincerity I ever saw from him was when he trembled for me as I died, and let all of his weakness show through. He really could have shared his pain with me on so many levels before, but it was all in that one, single moment."

That made things a little more clear for me, so I didn't bring up rebuttal. And in fact, I didn't intend to say anything else, until she spoke more directly to me. "I can tell you were surrounded by people you loved as you died. Were you able to see any deeper into them at that moment?"

Mitsukake and Tasuki, two of the most important people to me, came to mind. Mitsukake, when I dieing, looked as strong as he always did, and used his best words to console me. At the last moment, though, he finally showed me how much grief he felt, and how much my pain was hurting him. Tasuki, on the other hand, was streaming with tears the entire time, and didn't even bother trying to stay strong for me, with his usual bandit attitude. The fact that those tears were for me was painful, but I would have felt even more lonely as died if they were smiling to me the whole time.

"I guess I did," I hugged my knees and looked off into the distance, wondering where they were. It wasn't only them… everyone showed how deeply they cared for me when they said good bye.

Soi's facial expression was very soft, and very content. "I think that's because of how much you gave up for them. If you had died in any less of a heroic way, I don't think they would have revealed those sides of themselves quite as honestly. And that's why you should be thankful."

I nodded, but had a big knot in my throat as I reflected on how they all reacted that day. If not had that happened, and even if I died as a random casually at war, they probably wouldn't have opened themselves up so much. Perhaps Soi was right, and that was in return for how much I gave for them.

"I'm sorry," she slumped her shoulders. "It seemed as through Nakago wanted me to cheer you up, but I've just made you more depressed."

"That's alright, Soi," I forced a smile. "I helped appreciate a few things a little more. But I don't think I can be like you and be so thankful for my death."

"No, no, you're confused again, Chibiko," she perked up a little aggressively. "I'm not thankful for my death at all. I'd much rather be alive. I'm just thankful for how it occurred, and what great things happened because of it."

"I see," I said with relief that she wasn't a complete fool. "And it's Chiriko."

"Sorry again, Chiriko," she laughed. "Nakago says my senses have lost their touch, but I can feel that he's coming. He's probably taking you to meet someone else now."

"Already?" I looked around. "I don't see…"

"Now you should be able to sense him," she said, still fond of his life force. Sure enough, once I felt for it, that life force appeared, and soon became visible to us.

"I see you were waiting for me," he raised an eyebrow. "We should go now before you miss your chance to see Ashitare, Chiriko."

I nodded and went to his side, as Soi bid us off. Nakago looked back at her briefly, and questioned her, "You seem to be in an unusually good mood, Soi."

"So nice of you to notice," she eyed him with her eyes a flutter.

He shook it off and turned around, saying to me in a whisper, "Honestly. That woman is still so obsessive."

I wanted to say something in her defense, but knew it was futile, so continued to let him lead me off to meet the next warrior: Ashitare.